


Promise Me (Chrobin Week Day 05)

by LORBEERPRINZ



Series: Chrobin Week 2016 [4]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Chrobin Week, Family Drama, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 06:45:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8479285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LORBEERPRINZ/pseuds/LORBEERPRINZ
Summary: Lucina had managed to muster enough trust in her mother to keep herself from hurting her. However, this did not mean that her family and future were save after all, somebody else thought, asking something of the princess she felt she couldn't really bring herself to doing after all this. (Chrobin Week Day 5: Morgan & Lucina)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Basically, this is a fic I didn't really invent for this event alone; the idea had been flying around my head basically ever since I played Awakening, and I found now was the best opportunity to finally write it down. Obviously, the happenings of Future of Despair were one source of inspiration for this and if I didn't already have "Rain", I might think about writing a Bad Future version of what this fic here is talking about, but that would really basically be almost the same as aforementioned fic, so...

The wind howling through the grass and trees was deafening. It threw orange leaves into the Princess’s face, as if trying to slap her for being so stupid.  
How could she have ever mistrusted her mother. This woman, who had dedicated her whole being to this army, this country and the lead and protection thereof. There was no way she would let anything even resembling the time Lucina herself had come from happen here in this world. Lucina had always thought she would have everything under control once she’d figured out who had killed her father in her time, but never had she even thought about her own mother being the culprit.

 

As she watched her father and mother arm in arm against the sunset, a wave of doubts hit her again. What if they couldn’t find a solution? What if everything would just happen the same way as it had where she had come from? Lucina swallowed deeply and didn’t even really notice how her hand wandered towards Falchion’s hilt.  
What if she had made the wrong decision?

 

No. If she faltered and killed her after all, all those tears from earlier, her struggle and even her mother’s decision and words would have been for nothing.  
Her hand grabbed Falchion so hard it almost hurt.

 

“…Lucina..?”

 

When she turned, she found Morgan looking at her with big eyes, worry all over his face. He was almost inaudible over the bristling glass.  
The young tactician came closer until he could see his parents like she could, smiled for a moment until he returned to a worried frown and a visibly deep breath.  
His heavy coat rose and fell with the find, sometimes parts of his hood were blown into his face during very strong gusts, his hair became almost as obstructive to his view as Lucina’s long had become to herself.  
He looked at her, but at the same time, he didn’t.

 

“Lucina…”

 

He stopped there already, unable to go on, but Lucina was sure she knew what he was trying to say.  
He had witnessed everything. He had seen her point her blade at his beloved mother.  
She let go of the hilt.  
“Morgan, I…”

 

The boy shook his head to cut her off. The wind was still strong enough to drown the words they both spoke almost entirely.  
The two of them looked into each other’s eyes and it was only now that Lucina really realized that the way Morgan’s Brand shimmered in his eye must be just like hers looked to others. Whenever she looked into a mirror, she hardly paid attention to it anymore.  
“I know”, Morgan said finally, “you were trying to save Father… But you know… I’ve been thinking…”  
He stopped again, looked around, tried to avoid his sister’s gaze.

 

The wind calmed down for a bit, and Lucina could swipe some hair out of her face, unlike Morgan who kept the wild mob the air had created. A few leaves had fallen into his hood, which he seemed to not have noticed.  
She waited for her brother to speak.

 

“Look, it’s just… If Mother is connected to the Fell Dragon, then what about us? Mother’s blood flows within us too. I mean, I’m sure you don’t have to worry about anything, you’re so strong and full of willpower, just like Father. You’d never be influenced by Grima. But…”  
He trailed off, hesitated to go on, swallowed, took another breath. The frown in his face grew.  
Lucina own inner uneasiness grew, it crawled through her body in hot waves, just like it had right before confronting her mother about her suspicions. This anticipation of a bad outcome, an instinct to brace for the worst was what had saved her life so much in her time, but now she didn’t want it. She was tired. She couldn’t stand all this anymore for today.

 

It was getting dark.

 

“…but what about me? I’m not as strong as you, Lucina, or Father, what if this blood… will overwhelm me one day…?”

 

The wind began to howl again and led a dance of the dead between them, performed by crisp leaves. The Princess of Ylisse stared at her brother and what was left for her to see of his troubled face in the shadows of the evening. Never had she imagined this could be a possibility, and she still didn’t think it ever would.  
“There’s no way, Morgan”, she said, trying to take his worries with a smile that she hoped looked confident enough. But there were worries in the back of her head creeping into her brain, taking all the things Morgan had just told her, creating a gruesome scenario that began to flash before her inner eyes.  
“Really, don’t worry. After all, exalted blood runs through you just as much, and Naga watches over you the same way as she does over the rest of us. And even then, we’re all here for you, nobody would let you fall to Grima’s side.”

 

Lucina’s hand wandered towards Falchion’s hilt again, this time to underline her message.  
“I swear, I won’t ever let something like that happen to you, no matter what it takes. I promised Father to look after you.”  
She drew Falchion, but despite the usual comfort of her holy blade, the uneasiness wouldn’t go away. Morgan fiddled with his hands, fingers wrapping around the hems of his sleeves as he began to close the gap between them step by step.  
When he had ended up right before her, the boy laid one hand on Falchion’s blade, so tight Lucina feared he might injure himself. His eyes rested on that hand for a very long moment.

 

Then, suddenly, he added his other hand too, slowly raising the sword against Lucina’s will. She was so surprised and overtaken by this action that she didn’t manage to do anything about it, just let it happen.  
In the end, Falchion came to rest on Morgan’s chest.  
He looked into Lucina’s eyes again, the last remaining bits of sunset light making his determined expression just barely visible for her. A knot began to form in her throat.

 

“Lucina, you made me promise to fight on should you ever fall. Can I ask a promise of you in return…?”

 

The Princess could not speak, just gripped Falchion harder and brought up her second hand for support while Morgan on the other side of the blade let go of it. He did not step back from the sharp edge of it, though.  
“Should I ever, for whatever reason, be overcome by that other blood, end me quickly, before I can hurt Father – or anyone. Please.”  
The knot in her throat was suffocating Lucina. She took down Falchion, unable to speak or look at her brother. This was a completely different kind of promise, what did Morgan want to her from her?

 

“Lucina, please.”

 

She shook her head, it was something her whole mind screamed at her to be impossible even though just moments ago her brain had played so many ways of catastrophe to her. It was like earlier, reason saying it was safer to go with this promise, but then again, he was her brother.  
She had promised her father to look after him.  
She had promised her mother to help him.  
She had promised herself to love the brother she had hardly seen in her time, and who couldn’t remember her at all.

 

When she tried to look at him the shadows of the night had consumed his figure just as much as hers, but from the tiny movements of his shoulders and the sounds he made, it was clear he was crying.  
He was in pain.  
He was scared.  
And she was scared to make this promise, because she knew she might not be able to keep it should it ever come to this. Asking this of her just after he had witnessed her struggle with their mother was cruel.

 

Morgan jumped at her, grabbed her shoulders, and this close she was able to see his face full of tears.  
“Lucina, I just…”  
The wind howled again, so much that even with almost no space between them, Lucina had troubles hearing what Morgan said.

 

“I just… I don’t want to be the one who kills Father…!”

 

Lucina struggled to put Falchion back into its sheath, and once she had managed it, she wrapped her arms around Morgan, pulling her little brother in a tight hug to hide her own tears and fear being asked such a thing. She felt his warm breath and tears against her shoulder, the trembling of his body with each of his small sobs. Her mind was still screaming opposing things at her; if she promised him this it might mean she believed this kind of thing could happen to him, if she didn’t promise it would appear like she did not care for her brother’s fears.  
There was just no solution to this.

 

Before she could make up her mind about what to answer, the grass rattled again, with footsteps this time. Both royal children slowly opened the hug again as their parents arrived, hardly visible, but obviously them. Their father’s voice was impossible to mistake.  
“Lucina, Morgan? Are you alright?”

 

Morgan turned away from his parents, using the darkness of the oncoming night to wipe his tears without raising much suspicion. Of course this was not really possible, as already the silence that fell between the family in this event told Chrom and Robin more than clearly that Morgan had witnessed everything that had happened earlier.  
Lucina saw her mother’s silhouette, how she reached out to her son and put a hand on his head, lightly going through his hair, rearranging it closer to its usual style. The wind would make this moot sooner or later anyway.

 

“It’s alright Morgan, don’t worry”, she said with the same soft voice Lucina had heard earlier from her. Only this time, the undertone was not determination, but pure love.  
“We already sorted out everything. It’s fine.”

 

Morgan nodded, and Lucina used the attention put to her brother to quickly wipe away her own tears. After crying twice already during this evening, her were heavy and burning.  
She felt her father’s hand on her shoulder.  
“It’s pretty dark already, let’s get back to camp.”

 

Lucina watched her brother and mother take the lead, and as she kept on looking at their backs, they really seemed quite similar, the only real difference was height, which Morgan probably would soon pass. She actually liked that the two of them were so alike, because she liked her mother’s determination and kindness, how she put others before herself, and was not afraid to step to the frontlines if it meant protecting others.  
And all of these things she could see in Morgan too, and she didn’t want to lose either of them. But at the same time, she knew that her mother expected her to strike down if all else failed, just as Morgan wanted her to do it to him. And if that happened, she really would have no choice. Doing anything else would defile her mother’s sacrifice, one Robin had already done by taking all this upon her. She was sure, if the worst possible thing happened to Morgan instead, it was not just him, but their mother too would ask of her to end him, to put the fate of the world before personal feelings.  
This was the first time the Princess of Ylisse realized how heavy the burden on her still lay, even though she was so close to a better future.

 

In silence, she began praying to Naga, and to any other gods and beings that may be out there, that they might find a solution, that there was a way to avoid losing any of her beloved family. She didn’t want to lose anyone anymore.  
But still, should it come to the worst…

 

“Morgan, about earlier…”

 

The boy turned even though there was no way he could see her in this darkness.  
More leaves fell into Lucina’s face, they almost felt as if they were sharp enough to cut her skin.  
“I promise.”

 

“Hm?” Chrom raised his voice before Morgan could react. “What’s all this about?”

 

“Oh, nothing”, Morgan answered, “don’t worry about it. It’s fine.”


End file.
